AMD Ryzen 9 5950X vs Intel Core i3-7167U

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a high-end 16-core, hyperthreaded (SMT) Vermeer Series desktop processor. With 32 threads, the new flagship offers as many threads as the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Introduced on October 8, 2020, the Ryzen 9 5950X is the fastest 16-core processor and is specified at 105 watts TDP.

The Ryzen 9 5950X runs at 3.4 GHz to 4.9 GHz (single core). Wen all 16 cores are loaded, up to 4.5 GHz are still possible.

The internal structure of the processor has not changed fundamentally at first glance. The CCX structure has changed a bit compared to Zen 2, because now a CCX consists of up to 8 CPU cores. So each individual core can access the complete L3 cache (32 MByte). Furthermore the CCX modules are connected to each other via the same I/O die, which we already know from Zen2. According to AMD, the Infinity fabric should now reach clock rates of up to 2 Ghz, which in turn allows a RAM clock of 4,000 MHz without performance loss.

Performance

The average 5950X in our database matches the Core i9-12900K, the Core i9-12900HX and also the Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX in multi-thread performance, making this Ryzen a great processor for pretty much any task imaginable as of mid 2022.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 9 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 105 W. It will, however, happily consume much more than that as long as the cooling solution is able to handle the heat - even before one starts considering the possibility of overclocking the thing.

The Ryzen 9 5950X is built with TSMC's 7 nm process for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i3-7167U

The Intel Core i3-7167U is a dual-core SoC for notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. The CPU has two processor cores clocked at 2.8 GHz (no Turbo Boost). The processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper Threading. It is also equipped with an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 GPU with 64 MB eDRAM, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR4) as well as VP9 and H.265 video decoding as well as encoding. The chip is still manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

The i3-7167U does not have a Turbo, only 3MB L3 cache and the slowest clocked Iris Plus GPU compared to the faster Core i5 and i7 models.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

The Core i3-7167U is a bit faster than the Core i5-6200U (up to 2.8 GHz, 15 Watts, no eDRAM) due to the missing Turbo. The CPU performance is therefore sufficient for most scenarios. Some games might still require a real quad-core processor and therefore nit run perfectly on the dual-core processor, despite Hyper Threading.

Graphics

The integrated Intel Iris Plus 650 Graphics is the GT3e model of the Kaby Lake GPU (Intel Gen. 9.5). It has 48 Execution Units running at 300-1000 MHz (slowest Iris 650, fastest is 1100 MHz in the i7-7567U, for example) and the performance is comparable to a GeForce 920MX thanks to fast eDRAM cache. However, there aren't any significant improvements compared to the old Iris Pro 550, so modern games can often not be played smoothly or only at the lowest or medium settings, respectively.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby lake now also supports H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors announced in January should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors, which improves the efficiency even further. Intel specifies the TDP with 28 Watts, which can be reduced to 23 Watts (cTDP Down) depending on the usage scenario. The TDP is pretty high compared to the common 15-Watt TDP for dual-core processors, but allows a better utilization of CPU and GPU Turbo.